Most people never see the fuel they pump into their cars. It goes through the pump, down a black hose, through a nozzle and into the darkness of the gas tank. Gasoline is naturally clear, white, or slightly amber. Diesel comes out clear or yellow.
But fuels in Canada and around the world is dyed various colours to clearly distinguish it for special purposes. You’ll find it at certain gas stations, commonly cardlocks, and at some marinas.
Just keep in mind, if you mess with dyed fuel without authorization, it could have you wearing orange for two years in prison, and send your bank account into the red to the tune of $1 million in fines, as is the case in Ontario.
What color Is Gasoline?
Gasoline is a fluid-like petroleum substance that is derived from crude oil after it has undergone a refining process. The process of refining crude oil to produce gasoline, among other petroleum products, is known as fractional distillation.
Gasoline is used as fuel to power engines by combusting within the chambers of the engine. This combustion process is necessary to convert the stored energy in the gasoline into kinetic energy, which makes your car move.
Types of Gasoline
Gasoline is divided into three main types according to their octane rating. Octane rating is the amount of compression a gas can withstand before combustion.
Therefore the lower the rating, the more likely combustion occurs at the wrong time.
Let us look at this phenomenon by examining these three types of gasoline;
#1. Regular gasoline (87 Octane-Rating).
What color is regular gas? Regular gasoline has a greenish or bluish tint to it. The rating of this category is 87. The chance of mistimed combustion is the highest with this one.
This type cannot provide the highest performance for your vehicle. However, it is the standard go-to option for anyone. If you are on a low-budget, this is the wisest option.
While your vehicle will not thrive on this fuel, it will get you from point A to point B. That’s what a fuel serves to do, right?
#2. Midgrade gasoline (89 Octane Rating).
Also known as mid-grade gasoline, it has an octane level of 89. Mid-grade gasoline has a yellowish appearance.
This is a relatively expensive type of gasoline. The reliability of the combustion is higher.
#3. Premium gasoline (90+ Octane Rating).
This is the best type of gasoline. Usually appearing to be pink in color, it is the best fit because this gasoline is highly efficient and produces optimal performance.
For a better outcome, you need this fuel in your vehicle.
For vehicles with turbo-chargers or high compression ratios, premium-grade gasoline or Octane 92 is the best fit.
If your engine has high compression ratios or comes with turbochargers, premium quality is the fuel you should purchase.
Where did gasoline come from?
Gasoline was, at origins, a byproduct of the petroleum industry, which initially discarded it after kerosene was obtained.
Regardless of type, gasoline comes from crude oil, which itself formed from animal and plant fossils deeply buried under the pressure of the earth’s crust for millions of years.
If you’re into numbers, as a rule of the thumb, a 42-gallon barrel of crude oil gets you around 20 gallons of gasoline.
Oil refineries usually churn out what is called unfinished gasoline, or gasoline blendstocks. These blendstocks need to be mixed with other liquids to make finished gasoline that can safely and efficiently power a car’s internal combustion engine.
In the U.S., for example, refineries do produce some finished gasoline, but the better part of their production is unfinished gasoline.
That goes into so-called blending terminals, where it is mixed with other compounds, including ethanol (a grain alcohol sourced from corn, wheat, grain, barley, and potatoes that burns cleaner and with less emissions).
Today, most of the finished gasoline sold in the United States has around 10% fuel ethanol by volume.
By the way, ethanol is added into the mix to meet the requirements of the Renewable Fuel Standard, but the gasoline that reaches your car’s engine has other added chemicals (such as additives), which we’ll get to later on.
Importance of Gasoline Color
The color of the gasoline isn’t essential if you are receiving it freshly pumped. It is crucial to pay attention to the color of the stored Gasoline, though.
Matter which type of dye is used to color the Gasoline. It will have a transparent or clear color when it is fresh. That is the most significant type to obtain.
The color of gasoline will begin to change as it ages. This occurs as a result of oxidation. The color will transition from translucent to yellowish, and ultimately to a brown tone.
The aroma of gasoline can also be used to determine its age. Fresh gasoline seems to have a distinct stench, comparable to that of the gas station.
Color of Gasoline
The color of gasoline is transparent by nature, but you will encounter it in red, green, yellow, brown, blue, pink, or even purple.
Why does it have so many colors? This is because petrol manufacturers have added fuel dyes to this liquid with the prospect of classifying different gas types.
Before diving deeply into each gas color, we should know about the definition of this term. So what is gasoline? It is a petroleum-derived product that is extracted from crude oil before undergoing a refining procedure.
This also explains why this fuel is originally colorless. More specifically, it is boiled down to the fact that none of the molecules, which can absorb visible light, remain after the extraction and refining process.
So how many gas colors have been created until now? The following list may give you a helping hand:
Red Color
The diesel is dyed red to differentiate it from the greenish one. Red gasoline is also exempted from the national taxes imposed on gas-related products.
Regarding its applications, this type is widely used for heating, cooking, or lighting functions. In addition, many industries, namely construction or farming, also rely on red-dyed fuel as an effective energy source to spark off-road devices.
Purple Color
You may be surprised that the purple diesel is a variation of a red one. It is solely applied in agricultural settings to run the equipment. Besides, the tax that authorities levy on it is much lower than on other color-dyed products.
Yellow Color
This color is commonly used as a classification method within European territory where the need for power sources, especially natural gas and diesel fuel, have escalated. It is often labeled on the heating oil.
Green Color
Green gasoline is a special one that does not derive from petroleum yet plants. It is a mixture whose components are identical to that of a standardized diesel but greener and more environmentally friendly.
Blue Color
Blue gas, or marine gas, is an illuminating fuel with characteristics and properties similar to methane. In North America, it is one of the rarest exported merchandise and is strictly controlled by the government.
Brown Color
When the diesel color is darker than normal, it could signify oxidation. This chemical phenomenon is often detected when your vehicle has stayed stationary for a long time.
Pink Color
Fuel with a pink shade is attributed to the addition of pink dyes. It is often used to distinguish between premium and other types of gasoline with lower octane ratings.
Some Factors Affecting To The Gasoline’s Quality
The quality of gasoline will directly affect the performance of the vehicle. To know which types of A92 and A95 gasoline are good for the engine and ensure safety during use, many factors need to be considered.
Below are some basic criteria when evaluating this type of fuel:
#1. Anti-knock properties.
In the engine combustion chamber, two combustion phenomena can occur: normal combustion and detonation (abnormal combustion). Specifically, the main component of gasoline includes a lot of carbon and saturated hydrocarbons but in branched form.
The more stable the fuel’s bond structure is, the less self-igniting it is, so detonation is unlikely to occur and vice versa.
The octane number is the standard quantity to evaluate the anti-knock ability of gasoline. Currently, the types of gasoline in use have octane values ranging from 92 – 98.
#2. Volatility.
For combustion to occur, gasoline needs to evaporate and combine with a sufficient amount of oxygen through the carburetor. If this process is not guaranteed, the engine will not develop at full capacity, leading to complex technical problems and fuel consumption.
#3. Stability.
The stability of gasoline 95 and 92 is evaluated based on the ability to retain chemicals against the influence of the surrounding environment.
Factors affecting stability include temperature, the area exposed to air, cleanliness and dryness of the container, level, and duration of storage, and resin content in gasoline.
How Do I Know If The Gasoline Is Bad?
As gasoline ages, the properties are going to change. As this occurs, the engine won’t be able to process the fuel the same way. In many cases, the Check Engine Light will come on, which is your first indication that the fuel is bad.
Of course, the Check Engine Light can be caused by many other things, so you can’t assume it’s from bad fuel. Instead, you would need to run the OBD-II code scanner to see what’s going on.
Besides the warning light, bad fuel can lead to performance problems. You may have trouble starting the engine, the idle can be rough, the ignition can be hesitant and power can be lost while driving.
Beyond these, gasoline can also be examined by how it looks and smells. As fuel goes bad, it becomes darker. It can also appear muddy. The smell might not be normal but could start to appear sour. It could even give off a spoiled smell.
What Are The Color-Coded Cans?
The compilation as follows may come in handy under a few circumstances:
- Containers painted green are often used for fuel storage.
- Red cans are exclusively utilized to store gasoline or other flammable liquid.
- The yellow can be an optimal option if you want to store diesel fluids.
- In most cases, blue containers are only for kerosene.
How To Deal With Bad Gas
If you have bad gas in your car, it needs to be removed. The engine could become damaged by running this fuel and a gummy residue could form in the fuel lines.
If you have bad fuel, water vapor can also be in the system, leading to corrosion of the tank and system.
For this reason, we recommend these steps to get the bad gas out of your car.
- Park on a flat, level surface.
- Take the gas tank off of the car. You may need to remove some lines and hardware. Make sure you place all of the pieces in a safe location for reinstallation.
- Siphon the fuel from the gas tank. Use a siphoning tube to get all of the gas out of the tank. You want it to be completely empty.
- Add dry gasoline to the tank. With this alcohol-based additive, you effectively treat a contaminated tank.
- Once the tank has been treated, you want to fill it up with the best fuel it will take. If premium gas isn’t recommended for your model, put in the highest octane that you can.
If you aren’t sure how to treat the fuel tank, we recommend reaching out to a professional instead. You don’t want to run the car with a contaminated tank.
FAQs.
Q: What should gas look like?
Naturally, gasoline obtained from refined crude oil should appear transparent like water. Different grades of gas are dyed distinct colors to help differentiate them from one another based on their uses and octane rating.
Q: What is used to color gasoline?
Dyes are responsible for the distinct colors you see gasoline has. The addition of dyes has become an accepted method of telling different types of gasoline. Each type of gas has a specific color of dye added to it for easy identification.
Q: What gas is colored red?
Red gas, or red diesel, has been dyed red to help differentiate it from green diesel. Red diesel is intended to be used as heating oil or used off-road. Unlike gasoline or standard diesel, they exempted red gas from federal taxation.
Q: Is gasoline dyed?
Yes, gasoline is dyed and for good reason, too. If gasoline is not dyed, it will have a water-like appearance. That is, it will be clear. Also, gasoline is dyed to help you differentiate the types of gasoline and their applications.
Q: Is mixed gas blue?
What color is gasoline mixed with oil? It has a blue color. The blue color of gas is derived from the 2-stroke oil that is mixed with it. This helps separate it from the type of gas a 4-stroke engine will use. The type of gas used by a 4-stroke engine is not mixed.
Q: What does expire gasoline look like?
From the appearance and smell of the gas, you can tell if the gas is bad or expired. Bad or expired gasoline has a darker color and a sour-like smell unlike the transparent look and strong smell of fresh gas.
Q: Why does gas turn orange?
The presence of rust or rust residue in your tank can make your gas turn orange. When pumping fresh gas into your car, the rust residue mixes with the gas to give it an orange tint.
Q: Is brown gas bad?
When the color of your gas appears a darker shade than normal, this could be dangerous to your car engine.
Most times, it occurs because the gas has been oxidized. The gas in your car becomes oxidized if your car has been stationary for a month or longer without driving.
Q: What gas glows pink?
The pink color of gasoline comes from the pink dye additive in your gas. The dye is used to differentiate premium gasoline from both regular and Mid-grade gasoline, which have lower octane ratings.
Final Words
Knowing what color is gasoline can save you from causing serious damage to your car. There are three different types/grades of gasoline, with each type a distinct color from the others. This gasoline is color-coded to make it easy to identify the right gasoline you need.
In addition, knowing gas cans’ color codes will enable you to select the can containing the liquid that you need. You can never be too careful when selecting the right gasoline.